Washington, May 23 (RHC) –- Church leaders in the United States have called on the administration of President Barack Obama to open up a high-level dialogue with Cuba aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.
 
The U.S. church leaders, including denominations in the World Council of Churches (WCC), addressed an open letter to Obama earlier in May, the WCC said in a statement on Thursday.
 
In the letter they urged the Obama administration to address issues related to the release of Alan Gross, a U.S. citizen under arrest in Cuba for subversive actions under a U.S. funded program, as well as the Cuban Five, serving unfair sentences at federal prisons in the United States, for their monitoring of terrorist groups based in the U.S. state of Florida.

Signatories of the letter include Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal and other Protestant leaders as well as a leader of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).